PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- When the rains are heavy in Haiti, and rocks and mud get washed down the mountains, Creole speakers call it lavalas -- which is also the name of Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide`s wildly popular campaign movement.

In an typical Haitian mudslide, homes and farms disappear in the deluge, but in the end all is washed clean. Observers say ``the Aristide phenomenon`` is equally two-edged.

Aristide entered late in the campaign for president in Sunday`s elections. But for legions of poor Haitians, the soft-voiced 37-year-old Catholic priest has become a symbol of bravery.

He is well known for having spoken out against the Duvalier dictatorship that ruled Haiti for 29 years. His campaign symbol is a fighting cock.

``If Aristide goes to the palace, then I will get work,`` said Paul-Jean Pierre, 30, a resident of one of the capital`s notorious slums.

Aristide`s followers say that this exponent of liberation theology, or ``the Church of the Poor,`` can work miracles in Haiti, generally considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

The former Salesian monk was expelled from his order in 1988 because of political differences with his superiors. Some critics are troubled by the way Aristide has compared himself to Jesus Christ.

``I`m willing to give my life for my people, and in that sense it is like Christ,`` he said recently.

In the past, Aristide has praised Fidel Castro`s Cuba, singling out its cradle-to-grave welfare system; and he has called for broad reforms in Haiti.

He has also critized the United States on several occasions and this has won him no friends in some diplomatic circles. He has accused the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince of plotting with the Tontons Macoutes, the henchmen of the Duvalierist regime, in a conspiracy to oppress Haitians. The United States is Haiti`s largest grantor of foreign aid.

Since Aristide declared his candicacy, however, his rhetoric has been more circumspect.

Marc Bazin, a centrist politician, and a perennial Haitian presidential candidate, is the major opposition for Aristide in Sunday`s vote.

Bazin has called for reconciliation, and has declined to commit to prosecuting the Macoutes. Instead, Bazin has called for reforms of the national legal system.

No member of the Macoutes has been ever been brought to trial. Estimates of their numbers vary wildly, from 10,000 to 300,000.

Bazin is widely expected to run a close second to Aristide on Sunday. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the two leading candidates will go to a run-off election on Jan. 16.